Gary Puckett, was born on October 17, 1942, in Hibbing, Minnesota, and grew up in Yakima, Washington – close to Union Gap – and Twin Falls, Idaho. He began playing guitar in his teens, graduated from Twin Falls High School in 1960, and attended college in San Diego, California. There, he dropped out of college and played in several local bands before joining the Outcasts, a local hard rock group, which produced two singles, but they were unsuccessful.